Roger Waters – The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking

  • An incredible Shootout Winning pressing with Triple Plus (A+++) sound on both side – this is absolutely As Good As It Gets
  • Like the recordings of Floyd, the sound is BIG, with lots of energy, excellent presence and real weight down low
  • The first copy to hit the site in years, this is a tough one to come by and few indeed sound the way this one does
  • “The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking continues to showcase Waters’ unprecedented knack of addressing his darkest thoughts and conceptions in a most extraordinary fashion. ” 

Let me tell you, it is no walk in the park to find a copy of The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking that sounds as good as this one and plays as quietly. Those of you who like Floyd’s The Final Cut will probably get a lot out of the album.

This is the first solo Roger Waters album, although apparently these songs date back to The Wall album. Waters was writing this material at the same time he was composing The Wall and even gave the band the choice of which project they wanted to tackle. The Wall obviously became one of the most popular albums in rock history, while this album, whatever its merits, didn’t get nearly as much attention. Eric Clapton and David Sanborn help fill out Waters’ band here.

This album has an interesting concept — the songs happen in “real time,” which is to say the story takes place completely within the playing time of the record. Each track is subtitled with the time that the events are supposed to take place, and there’s even an extra minute between the A side and the B side to allow you to flip the record.

Best Practices

If you have five or ten copies of a record and play them over and over against each other, the process itself teaches you what’s right and what’s wrong with the sound of the album. Once your ears are completely tuned to what the best pressings do well that the others do not do as well, using a few specific passages of music, it will quickly become obvious how well any given pressing reproduces those passages.

The process is simple enough. First you go deep into the sound. There you find something special, something you can’t find on most copies. Now, with the hard-won knowledge of precisely what to listen for, you are perfectly positioned to critique any and all pressings that come your way.

The Players and Personnel

Backing Vocals – Madeline Bell
Drums – Andy Newmark
Electric Guitar – Eric Clapton
Orchestra – The National Philharmonic Orchestra
Organ – Andy Bown
Percussion – Ray Cooper
Piano, Conductor, Producer, Arranged By – Michael Kamen
Saxophone – David Sanborn
Twelve-String Guitar – Andy Bown

TRACK LISTING

Side One

4.30 AM (Apparently They Were Travelling Abroad)
4.33 AM (Running Shoes)
4.37 AM (Arabs With Knives and West German Skies)
4.39 AM (For the First Time Today, Pt. 2)
4.41 AM (Sexual Revolution)
4.47 AM (The Remains of Our Love)

Side Two

4.50 AM (Go Fishing)
4.56 AM (For the First Time Today, Pt. 1)
4.58 AM (Dunroamin, Duncarin, Dunlivin)
5.01 AM (The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, Pt. 10)
5.06 AM (Every Stranger’s Eyes)
5.11 AM (The Moment of Clarity)

AMG Review

When dissected carefully, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking becomes a fascinating conceptual voyage into the workings of the human psyche. As an abstract peering into the intricate functions of the subconscious, Waters’ first solo album involves numerous dream sequences that both figuratively and symbolically unravel his struggle with marriage, fidelity, commitment, and age at the height of a midlife crisis…

The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking continues to showcase Waters’ unprecedented knack of addressing his darkest thoughts and conceptions in a most extraordinary fashion.